Intestacy - Dying Without a Will

When someone dies without a valid will, the law decides who inherits - not the deceased, and not the family. This is intestacy. A fixed statutory order takes over, dividing the estate among a set list of relatives in a set sequence. There is no discretion in it: the rules apply whether or not they match what the deceased would have wanted.

This page is the UK-wide overview. Because succession law is devolved, the detail differs materially between the three jurisdictions, so the substance lives on three separate pages:

• Intestacy in England & Wales
• Intestacy in Scotland
• Intestacy in Northern Ireland

Read this page for the shared principles, then go to the page for the relevant jurisdiction.

What "intestacy" and "partial intestacy" mean#

A person dies intestate when they leave no valid will covering their estate. That can happen because they never made a will, because the will they made is invalid (for example, it was not signed or witnessed correctly, or it was revoked by a later marriage), or because a will was validly made but cannot be found.

A person dies partially intestate when a valid will disposes of only part of the estate. This is more common than people expect. A gift may fail because the named beneficiary died first, a residuary gift may be left out by mistake, or a will may deal with specific assets and say nothing about the rest. Whatever the will does not validly dispose of falls to be distributed under the intestacy rules. So the two regimes often run side by side in a single estate.

Why it matters#

Dying intestate is rarely a neutral outcome. In practice it causes four recurring problems.

Loss of control. The statutory order is rigid. It cannot take account of who the deceased was close to, who depends on them, promises they made, or a blended family. Estranged relatives can inherit; chosen beneficiaries can be left out entirely. A will (see The Will (Single & Mirror)) is the only way to direct where an estate goes.

Cohabitants inherit nothing. This is the single most dangerous feature of intestacy, and it holds true in all three UK jurisdictions. An unmarried partner - however long the relationship, and even where there are children - takes nothing under the intestacy rules. Their only route is a court claim for financial provision (or, in Scotland, a time-limited application), which is uncertain, slow, and costly, and in some cases barely available at all. Couples who are not married or in a civil partnership should treat this as a reason to make a will.

Tax inefficiency. Intestacy makes no attempt to be tax-efficient. It cannot create the will trusts, life interests, or targeted gifts that manage Inheritance Tax - An Overview, and it does not steer assets to make best use of the The Nil-Rate Band & Transferable Nil-Rate Band or the The Residence Nil-Rate Band. An estate that would have passed tax-efficiently under a well-drafted will can generate an avoidable charge on intestacy.

Guardianship is not addressed. The intestacy rules distribute money and property. They say nothing about who should look after the deceased's minor children. Only a will can appoint testamentary guardians, so an intestacy leaves that decision to be resolved separately, often at the worst possible time.

The common thread: a fixed statutory order#

For all their differences, the three jurisdictions share the same underlying architecture. Each has a statute that sets out, in order, who inherits and in what shares. Each gives a special position to a surviving spouse or civil partner. Each provides for children (and remoter issue) to inherit, and each channels a minor child's share into a trust until they come of age (see Understanding Trusts - A Plain-English Guide). And each ends with the estate passing to the Crown where no qualifying relative can be found.

The differences are in the mechanics, and they are substantial:

• England & Wales and Northern Ireland both give the surviving spouse a fixed cash sum - a statutory legacy - off the top, then split the rest. But the figures differ, and Northern Ireland varies the spouse's share of the residue depending on how many children survive.
• Scotland works on a wholly different model: prior rights (to the home, its contents, and a cash sum) come first, then legal rights over the moveable estate, and only then is the free estate distributed. The distinction between heritable (land and buildings) and moveable property runs through the whole scheme.

The monetary thresholds in each jurisdiction are set by statutory instrument and are reviewed from time to time, so always check the current figure before relying on it.

How an intestate estate is administered#

There is no will, so there is no executor. Instead, the estate is administered by an administrator - usually the person with the highest entitlement under the intestacy rules (typically the surviving spouse or an adult child). They apply for a grant of letters of administration (in Scotland, they are usually appointed as executor-dative and obtain confirmation) and then gather in the assets, pay the debts and any tax, and distribute what remains strictly according to the statutory order. The roles, priority, and duties are covered in Executors, Administrators & the Grant of Probate, and the mechanics of winding up an estate in Administering an Estate, Step by Step.

Because there is no chosen executor, administration is often slower and more contentious than it needs to be - another cost of not making a will.

The takeaway#

Intestacy is a safety net, not a plan. It applies a one-size-fits-all order that ignores cohabitants, wastes tax reliefs, and cannot appoint guardians. A valid will (see The Will (Single & Mirror)) replaces all of it with the deceased's own choices. For the detail that applies to a particular estate, go to Intestacy in England & Wales, Intestacy in Scotland, or Intestacy in Northern Ireland.

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This page is general information, not legal advice. Intestacy law and the statutory monetary figures differ by jurisdiction and change over time; always confirm the current position for the relevant jurisdiction before acting.